Te Akau's Huge Weekend

David Ellis writes:

I normally aim to get out of bed between 5.30am and 6.00am on a Sunday morning - I spend the first half hour reading emails that have come in over night and then I love going around the farm, checking the horses before coming in to the house for breakfast.

This morning I sat down in the office and reflected on what an amazing month Te Akau has experienced.

As usual, Mark has continued to churn out winners, literally every weekend.  To think he has only been in Singapore for three years, makes these results stunning and we are all proud of what he and the team have achieved in Singapore.

Yesterday in New Zealand was however undoubtedly the highlight of the season thus far.  Riccarton on New Zealand Cup Day is one of the most fun racedays in the land and I haven't missed a New Zealand Cup meeting for at least 20 years, possibly longer but unfortunately I wasn't able to travel to be there yesterday.

On Saturday they had to put up the "full" sign and close the gates - isn't that exciting? On tv you could see so many young people having a wonderful day, these are our racegoers and owners of the future.

Yesterday was the $300,000 Group 1 New Zealand Bloodstock 1000 Guineas, an important leg in the NZB Filly of the Year Series. Te Akau has won this series four times with Shikoba, Insouciant, Princess Coup and King's Rose.  No other stable comes close to this record.  The 1000 Guineas is the most prestigious race for 3YO fillies staged before Christmas and I was so proud to have bought (effectively) a quarter of the field at public auction.

Karyn and I sat down to watch the race and were really thrilled to see both our fillies Costa Viva and Spellbinder go such great races.

I thought, taking everything into consideration, both Costa Viva (we know her as Viva) and Spellbinder (who we know as Bindi)  went super races, you couldn't take anything away from either of them.  Although on this occasion Viva was successful, look out for Bindi as she is only going to get better and better.  We are certainly going to have plenty of excitement with her in the necxt 12 months.

Four months ago, Jason and I planned this southern attack.  At Te Akau Racing we are blessed with unbelievabley talented and passionate staff.  Our team members are the most dedicated and best in the business - and at every level.

We were fortunate that we could send our Assistant Trainer Pam Gerard away to the south for five weeks to our Riccarton base and still have the stable perform at top level while she was away.

Pam was away from her two children Meg and Archie for five weeks and that is a huge ask for any mother but she did this willingly and put her heart and soul into our southern team under Jason's guidance.  The success we have had over this southern campaign is an enormous credit to her - thank you Pam.

Let me just review that success - we quinellaed the Listed Ray Coupland Stakes with Costa Viva and Chambord.  We won the Listed Spring Classic with Viana. Chambord then ran second in the Group 1 Sothys NZ 2000 Guineas and then we ran first and third in the Group 1 New Zealand Bloodstock 1000 Guineas with Costa Viva and Spellbinder.

Could Pam have done a better job? Absolutely not - she is one of the most gifted horsewomen you will ever find!  I love it in life when people that work as hard as she has, get these results.  Pam would not have been able to make this huge commitment without the support of her partner Tom Hazlett who kept everything running at home.  So it is an enormous credit to them both that the trip reaped such wonderful rewards for our Te Akau owners.

Jason Bridgman has now been at Te Akau Racing for three years and three months.  Everyone knows that I buy yearlings to win races like the Group 1 2000 and Group 1 1000 Guineas.

In Jason's first season at Te Akau he won the Group 1 1000 Guineas with King's Rose who went on to claim the NZB Filly of the Year title.  In his second season he won the Group 1 2000 Guineas with Rock 'n' Pop who now stands at Waikato Stud and this season he has again won the Group 1 1000 Guineas, this time with Costa Viva.

Since Jason has been at Te Akau Racing, he has has won more domestic flat Group and Listed races than any other stable in New Zealand over that period - this is one enormous achievement and one that Jason and I, and the whole team, are very proud of.  Nothing gives us more pleasure than winning races for our owners.

A win like yesterday does a phenomenal amount for team spirit - I have only mentioned a couple of staff but we have a huge depth of talent in our team at present.

To all of you - our team - this is your success, congratulations on the work that you are doing, congratulations on always going the extra mile and giving more, congratulations on the season that you are having - we are all very, very proud of you!

Of course the season has a long way to go and we have some very nice horses still to step out.  We also have horses such as O'Darci, who has won three from three, and who is being aimed at the Group 1 Thorndon Mile at Trentham in January.  He is a really high class horse and probably the best Darci that I have seen in New Zealand.  The sky is the limit for this bloke.

So it certainly looks like an exciting season to come with lots more talent to still emerge.  We have a number of promising horses such as Aspen and Flirty Gerty (just to name a couple)  - both high class horses that have won races this season already but who we have deliberately given a brief spell and who will be peaking again at around Christmas time.

Today I have some people coming to Te Akau Stud at 10.00am for a job interview - then I am off to Auckland to spend the afternoon inspecting Ready to Run Sale horses.  At 5pm tonight I have to be in Orakei for my daughter Sarah's official opening of her beauty and daycare shop.  Sarah is a beauty therapist and is very excited about starting her own business where she does things like massage, facials, manicures, pedicures etc.  I have independently been told she is superb at what she does - so you if you want a "tidy up" before Christmas give her a call in Auckland on 021 803 809!

If you would like to be part of the Te Akau team at the Ready to Run Sale - please feel free to come out to the sale and join us or simply ring me on 021 925 151 and you will be made to feel very welcome.

I have decided to buy two or three horses at this sale specifically for Singapore racing, such is the interest expressed in racing there, especially with stakes increasing from April 2014.  This syndicate will be called the "Straight to Singapore Syndicate" and as you'd guess from the name, these horses will do all of their racing there.

The "Straight to Singapore Syndicate" will be managed by Karyn - so if you are keen to hear all the details when the horses have been purchased, drop Karyn an email [email protected] and she will keep you well informed and let you know what horses we have chosen, the costings etc.  I am sure this syndicate will, like most of Te Akau's syndicates, be very popular.  With the limited shares that will be available, don't hesitate in registering your interest now.

I just want to say that in the midst of an unbelievably happy day on Saturday, I really felt sorry for Matt Cameron who decided to ride Spellbinder and not Costa Viva.  Matt is a good judge but on this occasion, pulled the wrong rein.  This is something that happens all the time with racing but Matt has got such a great attitude that he was the first to congratulate us and he will quickly put this disappointment behind him.  We certainly have other Group 1 winners in the stable for him to ride in the future.